Memecoins
Solana’s Memecoins rally together with SOL as the Crossroads conference begins
Solana-based memecoins are outperforming the broader cryptocurrency markets with daily market capitalization growth of 12%.
Solana’s Crossroads 2024 conference in Istanbul, Turkey is live and the markets are responding.
SOL, Solana’s network token, rose more than 8% in the past 24 hours during the event, last changing hands for $153.5, according to CoinGecko. SOL is the second-strongest performing cryptocurrency among the top 35 by market capitalization, with only Toncoin (TON) surpassing it after a 13.5% rally.
The impressive performance comes as most major digital assets are trending sideways, with the combined capitalization of crypto assets posting a modest daily gain of 2.8%.
Solana meme markets outperform
Memecoins remained, unironically, a serious topic throughout the event, with several speakers asking active meme token traders sitting in the audience for a show of hands, eliciting an enthusiastic response each time.
Enthusiasm for Solana’s meme sector is already showing in the markets, with the combined capitalization of Solana’s memecoins jumping 12% to $7.83 billion in 24 hours. For comparison, the broader memecoin sector grew 6.8% in 24 hours, with assets within the Solana ecosystem making up the segment’s biggest gainers.
Dogwifhat, the network’s main memecoin, leads the chart with a daily gain of 12%, boosted by news of ambitious promotional events. Bonk, Solana’s second-largest memecoin and sponsor of Crossroads, is up 6%, while Book of Meme has jumped 12% and Popcat has rallied 19.5%.
Speaking to The Defiant, Thomas, the co-founder of Kamino, described memecoins as tools that enable the tokenization of viral culture. “We think the tokenization of virality is the future of France and Kamino is committed to building products to fuel this economic activity,” he said.
King, the co-founder of Bonkbot, a Telegram trading bot, argued on stage that meme tokens offer a superior mechanism for onboarding retail users compared to offering legacy trading products within a web3 environment.
“I think memecoins are a good way to integrate retail… they are a simpler product compared to other more complicated products like options,” he said. “A user can look at a meme and, if he laughs, he can buy the meme.”
However, Flash Point’s Streggs noted that the increase in memecoin trading activity has also caused congestion on Solana, with some users’ trades including several blocks after expected execution.
“These are markets that can move 30% [to] 50% in a few minutes,” he said. “If I made a trade and got blocks later, it would make a difference […] to my [profit and loss].
King also noted the congestion induced by memecoins, noting that many Solana traders expect their transactions to be executed “within seconds.”
“Keeping users safe and congestion are the main issues we face,” he said, acknowledging the prevalence of abandonment attempts in the fast and loose memecoin segment. “I was tough most of the time,” King added.